Ad of the Day: Steven Tyler drives back in time to recapture his youth with Kia Stinger
Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler isn’t getting any younger, except in the new Super Bowl spot for Kia where he races a car in reverse and erases those rock 'n' roll years in the process.
Kia has released its new Stinger model, which it calls its “highest performing and most anticipated model in the company’s history”, according to a release. The auto brand’s 60-second spot features the car as a symbol of youthful optimism by showing Tyler recapturing his youth by driving the car.
Created by agency of record David&Goliath, Kia’s spot, titled ‘Feel Something Again,’ stars legendary rocker Tyler at an old abandoned racetrack. With the familiar notes of his band’s ‘Dream On’ playing backwards, Tyler looks as though he’s about to race the Stinger against another legend – two-time Formula One and Indianapolis 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi.
As he gets behind the wheel, with a moment of reflection, rather than driving the car forward, Tyler takes the car backwards around the track in reverse. When he stops, he steps out of the Stinger as a younger man in the early 1970s – a rock star in his prime, at a moment when he felt most alive.
The spot ends with the on-screen text 'Feel Something Again' accompanied by the Stinger logo text with its 'Fueled by Youth' tag.
David Angelo, founder & chairman of D&G, said: “After test driving the Stinger and all its competitors, the biggest difference was that the Stinger made me feel something. The challenge was to bring that feeling to life in a way that was totally unexpected. Kind of like driving backwards on a racetrack to another point in time. We chose Steven Tyler because like the Stinger, he is a challenger brand himself with an ageless, audacious spirit.
"And while the expectation would be to use humor, we purposefully chose a more serious and epic tone to properly reflect the Stinger’s persona and where the Kia brand is going.”
D&G worked with Nicolai Fuglsig of MJZ, the director of ‘12 Strong’, to give the spot a cinematic, almost haunting, tone.
Angelo added: “One of the biggest challenges was authentically re-creating the 25-year-old version of Steven. We had to get that absolutely right. Fortunately, thanks to the amazing artists at The Mill, we were able to get the glowing approval of Steven, his daughter, friends and a handful of rockers who know him best.
"With the help of Human, an LA-based music company, and Steven Tyler, we created an original music composition that gradually transforms into Tyler’s ‘Dream On’ – a song about the passage of time – almost as if it was a distant memory that resurfaced as he raced back through the years.”
The Stinger Super Bowl campaign started with the 15-second ‘Fittipaldi’ online teaser. A 30-second launch spot, ‘The Rise’, will go live in broadcast during the Super Bowl pre-game on Sunday, February 4. The 60-second ‘Feel Something Again’ goes live today (February 1) and will air during the third quarter of the Big Game. Beginning Monday, February 5, a 30-second spot titled ‘What Every Racer Needs’ will begin airing to sustain the campaign.
Kia also has a little surprise in the spot to inspire people engage with the brand via social media. Based on the phenomenon of rock and roll musicians hiding secret messages in their albums in the 70s, Tyler included a little message into the spot. People who watch the spot on YouTube can hear something strange but will only make out the actual message when watching the spot in reverse, which will be provided on the brand’s channel. On Twitter Kia will engage with their audience to see who got the hidden message right.
Tyler isn't a stranger to Super Bowl ads, having featured in a strange Skittles ad in 2016. Last year's Kia ad was a more humorous spot with Melissa McCarthy.
